All Chapters of They Offered a Crown, I Chose Another Alpha: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

My grandmother called almost immediately. I could hear the old grandfather clock in her study, each measured tick striking slowly against my heart.“You’ve finally made up your mind?”I stood in front of the sink and watched the current carry the moon crest into the corner.“I have.”“Blackridge sent the alliance contract three years ago,” she said after a pause. “You were the one who insisted that Everett and the others had grown up with you, and that surely one of them would choose you sincerely.”I said nothing.Because I truly had believed that once.Everett had stood in front of me when a rogue wolf lost control and attacked. Nolan had carried me halfway across the city when wolfsbane poisoning left me unconscious. Julian had defended me at an academy assembly when rumors spread about my bloodline. Rhys had fought a hunter who crossed our border and broken the bones in his hand protecting me.Each of them had given me a little tenderness. It had never been much, but it had been en

The next morning, I went to the Silvercrest Council Hall.This was not a sudden decision. Grandmother told me that Callum Thorne had resubmitted Blackridge’s alliance proposal a month earlier.He had only been waiting for my answer.I stood outside the Council Hall with the four torn pieces of the candidate list still clenched in my hand.I had not returned home after leaving the estate. Instead, I had spent the entire night sitting in my car while my phone vibrated until the battery died.Everett called twenty-three times.Nolan sent me an entire packet about stress responses and impulsive behavior.Julian sent a sticker of an angry wolf pup, followed by a message.[Your Highness, come home when you’re finished being mad.]Rhys’s message was the shortest.[Location. Now.]Not one of them asked whether standing alone on the ceremonial dais had hurt.They only thought I was throwing another tantrum.Just as they always did.A black SUV stopped below the steps, and Callum climbed out.He

Nolan picked up the contract.His gaze moved over the Council seals, then stopped at the signatures.“Callum Thorne?”Julian’s smile disappeared.Everett reached for the document, but Grandmother spoke before he could take it.“It is genuine. I authorized Silvercrest’s seal myself.”No one answered.“The union is registered,” she continued. “All four prospective mate agreements have been dissolved.”Everett looked at me.“You signed this with him?”“Yes.”Rhys stepped toward me. “You can’t just leave with another Alpha.”“I’m not asking permission.”Grandmother rose from her chair.“No one here has the authority to detain her.”I took back the contract and went upstairs.This time, none of them followed.I packed my documents and personal belongings. The four gifts went into separate boxes, each with the corresponding dissolution notice the Council had issued that morning.I left the boxes on the table in my room.When I came downstairs with my suitcase, Callum was waiting at the front

When Julian came to see me, he brought a newly made Moon Crown.He was waiting at a café I often visited. When I entered, he gave me his familiar smile.“Your Highness, I bought your favorite chestnut cake.”There was indeed a slice of chestnut cake on the table. Beside it sat a berry tea filled with ice.My stomach had always been sensitive. I never drank iced beverages.Mira did.Julian followed my gaze. His smile stiffened when he realized he had brought the wrong drink again.“I’ll get you another one.”“Don’t bother.”After a moment of silence, he pushed the crown box toward me.“I was wrong that night. I didn’t know the Moon Crown had been modeled after the one your mother left behind. If I had known, I never would have put it on Mira.”I looked at the crown inside the box.That night, he had placed it on Mira’s head with his own hands, then smiled at me and said, The birthday girl comes first.“Julian, did you truly not know?” I asked. “Or did you simply never listen when I spok

Three months later, Blackridge Pack held a small engagement ceremony beside the lake.Our alliance had already been in effect for months, but Callum had never asked me to complete the mate bond. He said the alliance had been a decision made between two packs. The mate bond, however, had to be my decision.During those three months, he never pressured me. I began participating in Blackridge affairs and built a life of my own. Callum listened to my opinions, but did not demand that I always be right simply because I would become Luna. We argued sometimes. Yet he never used an Alpha command to silence me or decided whether my pain was reasonable.On the day of the engagement, he did not bring a large, expensive bouquet of roses. He brought a small bundle of white wild daisies.I looked at him. “Other Alphas propose with the rarest flowers they can find.”“You like white flowers,” Callum said. “But you dislike bouquets that are too large or heavy. Your wrists ache if you hold them for long